A Burning Pride
by juanivan7
Summary: Angered by his defeat against Charizard, a super salty Falco seeks help from a dorky tactician by blackmailing him to do his evil bidding. (My first fanfic) (MULTIPLE ENDINGS!)
1. Chapter 1: The Morning Match

"GAME!" a voice boomed, to indicate a match was over.

"The winner is... Charizard!" the voice continued as the pokemon mentioned was posing triumphantly and breathing out flames as he is firing the move Flamethrower up into the air. Next to him was a blue, anthropomorphic falcon clapping his wings begrudgingly.

It was another fine day for Charizard in the Smash Mansion, for he has emerged victorious after being scheduled to fight a 1v1 battle with Falco by Master Hand. Not many were really spectating this match due to the fact that this was the first match in the morning and the smashers had better things to do like getting breakfast, but Charizard felt proud nonetheless.

"Pika! Pikachu!" a little, yellow mouse pokemon said cheerfully as he ran up to the orange, pseudo-dragon in the hallway to congratulate him on his victory. Charizard growled in gratitude to Pikachu's praise.

"Eh, big whoop! all ya' did was use that "Fire Blitz" move of yours!" said Falco snarkily with his Brooklyn accent as he was passing by.

Charizard then approached Falco with an offended glare on his face.

"What's wrong tubbo? Can't handle some words of truth!?" The bird defiantly replied to the pokemon's attempt to intimidate him.

Pikachu, knowing of Charizard's fiery temper quickly stepped in the middle of this sudden conflict to stop his friend from making roasted poultry out of his fellow smasher.

"Pika Pi! Pika! Pikachu!" interrupted Pikachu, hoping to help the two smashers with attitude would come to their senses.

Although Charizard stubbornly persisted on this conflict, Falco knew better and decided to sacrifice a bit of his pride to live another day.

"Ya' know what? I think ya' should listen to the little guy, imma' go to the kitchen and see if they still have some grub left before Kirby and Yoshi wake up" agreed Falco and proceeded to his previous route to join the other smashers for breakfast.

In the Smash Mansion, being scheduled to fight the first match of the day was an unfortunate fate. The chosen fighters would be woken up earlier than the rest, without even time to eat breakfast. The results were disastrous for the chosen smashers.

There was an incident not too long ago where Jigglypuff was missing until she was found 3 days later sleeping behind the bushes of the Duck Hunt stage. Which was the same stage she fought in her last morning match, where she won by landing Rest on a very cranky Peach due to her disturbed "beauty sleep".

-Meanwhile in the Dining Room...

"Stupid, orange, lizard thing..." Growled Falco to himself, clearly still upset from his loss against Charizard.

"Oh hey Falco! how did the morning match go?" greeted Falco's roommate Fox, who is the leader of the mercenary team Starfox, and Falco being the cocky ace pilot.

Falco then sat down next to him in the table which consisted of other competitive characters like Captain Falcon, a racer who was just as cocky as the bird he names himself after, and Meta Knight, a studious and observant swordsman who was mostly quiet and served as the group's voice of reason along with Fox.

"It was a loada' baloney I tell ya!" said the salty falcon.

"What makes you say that?" asked Fox, curious of what could upset his fellow teammate.

Falco certainly did not enjoy the morning match like Charizard did, the Arwing pilot was left with bruises and burns after taking a Flare Blitz to the face after attempting to recover back to the stage with Fire Bird, It was the perfect opportunity for the fire type to take advantage of his super armor. Which all the smashers dreaded because it meant Charizard can take any hit like a champ while using some of his attacks.

"Did you try keeping your distance from him with your laser blaster?" suggested Fox, knowing Charizard lacks range other than his Flamethrower, which still doesn't go that far.

"Don't listen to him!" Captain Falcon protested, "Nobody likes a spammer, you gotta get into their faces and spike them to their doom with style!" the racer continued.

"You know that "Flame Blitz" of his can tank through my lasers" Falco acknowledged that he has tried that before.

"How about waiting patiently and shield his Flare Blitz?" Meta Knight suddenly spoke.

"The move's startup makes it predictable and the recoil leaves him vulnerable long enough for a good punish" the masked puffball added.

"Man! don't settle for those "Chess Monopoly" magic shenanigans, this is fighting we are talking about!" argued Captain Falcon, as he has always favored his reckless and aggressive fighting style.

"Tactics without strategy is always a tragedy!" quoted Robin as he stood up, a white-haired tactician with a black Plegian coat who sat not very far away from the group's table.

"SHUT IT BOOK WORM!" yelled Captain Falcon, Falco, and several other smashers in unition like Wario and King Dedede who sort of treat Robin like how jocks would treat a nerd in cliche' high school.

Robin sat back down with his chin on the table with a rather depressed look, losing the appetite to continue his breakfast.

"So what will you do Falco?" Fox continued to the topic at hand, which has evolved to an "Anti-Charizard Club" at this point...

"Thanks for the advice fellas, but I got a better idea..." Falco said in a sinister manner which could even disturb Ganondorf.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Chapter 2: Falco's Plan

-Outside of Master Hand's office-

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Fox questioned about Falco's plan to bring down Charizard's ego.

"Fox, imma' tell you right now, i got the best equipment you can think of" Assured Falco.

"Alright then, i'll trust you on this one but if it fails, you better not have a Plan B, because last time you had a Plan B you almost crashed the Great Fox!" Fox reminded.

"WHAT DID YA SAY!" Falco shouted very angrily "I WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE AND MAKE A NEST OUT OF YOUR PELT IF YOU SPEAK OF THAT AGAIN!" he darkly threatened.

The last thing you want to do is remind Falco of his past failures and embarrassing moments, he is a guy who would point a gun on his mother's head if she tried to show family pictures...

(like Falco's birdbath photos of him as a young chick.)

Fox, intimidated, decided to keep his mouth shut.

"Good, now I will do the talking" Falco continued, towards Master Hand's office.

"Come on IN!" A voice inside boomed in an enthusiastic and announcing manner even before Falco could even knock the door.

Falco entered the room followed by Fox which led to a dark void which then stars, nebulae, and other galactic formations surrounded them.

Looking down, they see they were standing on a flat platform made of volcanic rock and some strange, metal, crystal material which happened to be floating next to two glowing planetoids of blue and orange slowly moving towards each other for an epic, imminent collision. It was the unstoppable force hitting the immovable object before their very eyes.

And then a giant, white glove appeared before them. the air was filled with the hand's deep, menacing laughter.

"Ya' know, I think "office" really understates how cool this place tends to be" Falco said calmly. Who along with Fox, were completely unfazed by the previous events since they are veterans and are already familiar with Final Destination's ridiculously radical designs.

"so gentlemen..." The hand said calmly "WHAT CAN I HELP YOU WITH?" suddenly boomed the hand, startling the space animals, no matter how experienced they were, everyone fell for Master Hand's sudden booms when speaking.

"Sup' "Mister H", I came here to request a match, a team battle with Fox and I, against Charizard and his partner of choice" Falco requested in a casual manner, as he didn't really care if you were a god or not, he really treats everyone the same...

Except male Robin being slightly lower.

"That is your plan?" asked Fox who was rather underwhelmed, knowing how Falco is usually more capable of coming up with dirty and elaborate plans.

"With Custom Sets on." Falco suddenly added.

"Very well..." Agreed Master Hand in a quiet manner, but the space animals know the pain that is about to come...

Suddenly, "The following fighers, FALCO, FOX, CHARIZARD, and... CHARIZARD's partner of choice report to BATTLEFIELD!" the hand's voice boomed throughout the whole mansion, having to shout so many names this loudly probably left some of the poor smashers deaf.

"Do you really have to shout everything?" Fox said, annoyed.

"YES I DO!" loudly announced the hand, leaving Fox's ears slightly bleeding.

The space animals proceeded to leave the office before their ear drums become more destroyed than they already are.

"Get ya' customs ready Fox!" notified Falco to his supposed "leader"

"Cuz today, we gonna slay a dragon..." Finished Falco as if he was delivering a one liner. Then Robin peeks out from the corner.

"Technically, Charizard is a fire and flying ty- WOOAHH Im out!" yelped Robin after dodging a shot from Falco's blaster, leaving a burn mark on the wall.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Chapter 3: Team Battle!

-In Battlefield...-

The Team Battle in Battlefield had already started, and the tension was as high as their damage percentages.

"HIEYA!" Shouted Falco furiously as he landed a well-spaced Back Air kick into Pikachu's stomach, launching him into the off-stage.

"PIKAUGH" Grunted Pikachu as he had the wind kicked out of him.

"Ill finish this!" Falco notified his teammate as he ran towards the falling pokemon, "FALCO WAIT!" warned Fox.

Falco, the show off that he is, decided to jump off the stage to finish off the yellow mouse with a spike that would earn him a replay in the Smash Highlights.

But as Falco was about to dunk Pikachu with a Down Air top-spin kick...

Pikachu air dodged, making Falco fast-fall into his doom. Adding more insult to injury, the electric pokemon recovered with ease using Quick Attack.

The battle was looking bleak for the space animals, for they have only their last stocks, while the two pokemon Pikachu and Charizard have preserved their two stocks through teamwork and coordination.

"Cheezers Blazers Falco! we could have shared that stock!" Complained Fox, as he was down to his last stock at 157%, a percentage that could send him to the moon from a single Smash Attack.

"Shut up!" Falco retaliated, "Now cover me' im goin' after hot head over there!" Falco then dashed towards Charizard for an all out assault.

The orange pseudo-dragon growled in a taunting manner while waving one of his clawed fingers towards himself, as if saying: "Come at me birdie!"

Although the space animals brought custom sets with stat changing equipment, they were unsure what kind of customizations the opposing team had, knowing what customs Charizard had was an even bigger mystery, until now.

*BWEENG!* A sound was heard coming from Charizard, clearly charging his Flare Blitz due to the blue energy surrounding him.

"Oh hey "Fiery Blitz", ever heard of shields?" commented Falco arrogantly, ever since he heard Meta Knight's advice for countering Charizard's Flare Blitz.

Falco then surrounded himself with a red, bubble shield, expecting Charizard to get a concussion on impact, followed by the concussion Falco is going to give to him.

*BRAANG!* a strange clanking noise came after the explosion of Charizard's attack.

The shield was broken on impact. Leaving a fatigued Charizard laying on the floor and a dizzy Falco staggering helplessly in the middle of the stage. For what hit was no ordinary Flare Blitz, but it was it's much stronger customization, Blast Burn!

"Falco!" cried Fox as he hurried to protect his teammate.

"noooooo, stop" Falco groaned weakly as he was far too dizzy to react properly.

"Stay Back!" yelled Fox as he hurried in front of Falco, he began to unleash a rapid wave of Jab kicks to repel Charizard. After escaping the barrage of kicks, Charizard quickly rolled away from the feisty vulpine.

While the two space animals are huddled together in the center stage, Charizard began charging another powerful Blast Burn, he was the surrounded in flames as he turned himself into a living bomb.

The fiery pokemon charged towards Fox, who was unable to evade the attack in time and was guaranteed that he won't survive that hit with such high percentage.

There was a large explosion covering Battlefield, from all the smoke shrouding the stage, Falco and Fox were seen blasting off again into sky with smoke trailing off of them.

*TEENG!* a bright star twinkled in the light of day.

"GAME!" The match was over.

"The winner is... Blue Team!" Boomed the announcer as Pikachu and Charizard did their respective victory poses while the losing team of space animals were forced to clap for sportsmanship.

As the fighters left the battlefield into the hallway, the pokemon duo was suddenly mobbed by praise of their fellow pokemon like Jigglypuff, Lucario, and Greninja.

Jigglypuff was happy as always to see her friends win another match, her and Pikachu have been friends for a long time as they were around since the original Smash tournament.

Despite Greninja's tough exterior, he is actually quite friendly and somewhat childlike, usually he can be found playing with the smaller pokemon, as if he was still a Froakie at heart. When he is not a portable water park or Substitute doll dispenser, he likes to stalk random smashers from dark corners or the ceiling for fun.

Lucario's congratulations were not very enthusiastic as the other two. He did not have much interest to sucking up to others, as he is one of the more independent pokemon. Mewtwo couldn't care less about his fellow pokemon he deems inferior.

Meanwhile, walking out of the Battling Room was Falco saltier than ever. Driven by hate and jealousy, he wasn't going to give up just yet.

"Damn." cursed Falco, "Looks like I have no choice but to go to Plan B!" Falco announced to his fellow pilot.

"No, I am not taking part of this any longer! I'm done!" Fox said before ditching Falco in the hallway.

"I'd knew he'd say that." Falco said smugly to himself, "Now this early bird's gonna get some worm" Falco monologued before dashing out of the hall to find a certain book worm.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Chapter 4: The Bookworm

-Meanwhile in the Lounge...-

The Lounge was easily one of Robin's favorite places in the mansion. It was a square room surrounded by wooden walls with bookshelves, and numerous decorations.  
The Lounge also had a fire place and several leather chairs, giving off a very warm and relaxing atmosphere to it, in contrast to the rest of the deceivingly peaceful mansion where it is actually rather chaotic.

In there Robin was sitting on one of the leather chairs, enjoying a nice cup of tea and reading a poetry book he got from the bookshelf. With him was his friend Luigi, a green-capped plumber in overalls taking a nap on one of the other seats.

The tactician sighed then muttered to himself about his regrets of not listening to Virion, an archer, poet, and comrade that fought alongside Robin and his fellow Shepherds.

However, the peace and quiet did not last long when Robin heard the door slam open, producing a loud thud, which was surprisingly not enough to awaken the nearby plumber.

The tactician faced towards the door and found Falco with Captain Falcon standing to his right posing boldly, and Meta Knight standing to his left.

"Sup' Bookworm!" The anthropomorphic bird rudely greeted.

"What do you want?" Robin asked to his tormentor bitterly.

"I heard ya' were a good tactician, and I need your help on doing some dirty work." Falco said to him.

"After all the things you have done and said to me? Not even Grima's influence would make me work for a dastard like you!" The tactician snapped at him.

"Figured you'd say that..." Replied Falco while giving Robin the cold shoulder.

"But that's why I brought these!" Falco turned back around to face the Plegian with papers in his hand.

"Are those-" Robin asked nervously.

"Your crappy poems? Of course!" Falco interrupted.

"How did you get those..." asked Robin with fear rising in his voice

"Meta Knight told me about em'. Trust me, you can't hide anything from this guy!" Falco gloated.

"G-G-Give those back!" Stuttered Robin trying to swipe the papers from Falco's hands, but was stopped on his tracks when Captain Falcon stepped in to block the tactician with his stubbornness and sturdy body. It only took one hand on Robin's face to stop him from getting any closer.

"Show me your moves!" Captain Falcon taunted while the tactician flailed his arms in a desperate attempt to penetrate the racer's defenses.

Captain Falcon grew bored of Robin's pathetic struggle, so he pushed him back and landed on the floor.

"What are you going to do with them?" Robin asked in a fearful tone.

"I'm gonna have Falcon here read them out loud to the whole mansion and then use my remaining resources to make your life here a living hell!" Falco threatened him.

Robin was at the verge of crumbling apart, what would all the smashers think of him? especially what would SHE think of him? All these thoughts coursed through his head.

"Fine, i'll help you" Robin finally submitted, with a sad and defeated tone in his voice.

"That's what I like to hear" Falco said as he handed the poems to Captain Falcon.

"Ummm, I don't understand this hand writing..." said the racer seconds after trying to read the Ylissean hand writing.

"Allow me to rewrite it, so you are able to read it to your... ability." Meta Knight spoke.

"Sure Tin-face." agreed Falcon as he passed the papers to the dark blue puffball, unaware that Meta Knight just insulted him.

Meta Knight quickly dashed off into the mansion to work on his task.

"Anyways, let's discuss tactics!" Falco turned back towards Robin.

"What seems to be problem?" the tactician asked while sitting back on his chair, while Falco sat on the third seat.

"There's is a smasher who's ego is taking things way too far, and it's up to us to extinguish this burning pride!" Falco explained.

Robin mentally face palmed at the bird's hypocrisy, knowing that doing such expression would get him many broken ribs.

"I think the best way to lower enemy morale is by defeating them with a very underestimated opponent." Robin suggested, remembering how he managed to make Olivia take down the tyrannical Conqueror Walhart. The Valmese Empire lost all their dignity and respect that day.

"So all we need to do is find the mansion's second biggest loser and hope he beats him fair and square?" Falco questioned.

"It isn't that simple Falco, the opponent would need to be pampered so that their arrogance wouldn't allow them to battle with effort." Robin explained. "Assuming that your relationship with this smasher hasn't already gone sour, you should be able to manipulate him if you get on his or her good side." He continued.

"Now for the underestimated opponent, likely candidates would be those who get very little attention, like Olimar or... Luigi." Robin said hesitantly hoping he wouldn't offend his only friend, who was fortunately still fast asleep.

"Listen Bookworm, I've been around here since the second tournament." Falco informed. "Green Bean over there couldn't hurt a fly!" He continued.

"Well, judging from his recent records, he has an impressive number of wins, which surprises me nobody here gives him any credit." Robin defended.

"Plus, he certainly can land more spikes tha-" Robin was cut off as he ducked after being startled by Falco's blaster.

Luigi was unaffected and still sleeping peacefully.

"Strike one..." Threatened Falco, signifying that it was a warning shot.

"Anyways, just bring ya' chump to the Battle Room and I bring my guy as well." Falco concluded as he stood up.

"Don't be late." warned Falco as he left the Lounge, followed by Captain Falcon.

Although the unwanted visitors were gone, peace and tranquility never returned to Robin, as those dreadful thoughts ran back into his head.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. Chapter 5: Plan B

-Outside The Smash Mansion-

The Smash Mansion stood in the center of a beautiful landscape. It was a fertile grass plain covered with perfectly green blades of grass, a few trees scattered around, and some grassy hills seen in the horizon. Such arrangement of nature could only be work of Master Hand, creator of the Smash Realm and the one who invited fighters of different universes into one place, such idea could only lead to one thing.

*BOOM!*

Chaos.

The explosion left a small radius of the landscape devoid of grass, for it was burned by an inferno of all-consuming flames. Within the scorched area were some figures who were completely covered in black. they stood still for a second until one of them spoke.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" shouted a figure in amazement. The figure wiped the ashes off it's face, revealing to be Pit. He was an angel with blue eyes and brown hair.

"Poyo!" a short figure said joyfully. The shorter figure was Kirby, a pink puffball with a soft, cheerful personality and an even softer body.

"But you ruined my curry!" Cried a tall figure as his plate of Super Spicy Curry was incinerated. The taller one was Ike, a burly swordsman of blue hair who held a large and heavy sword effortlessly with one hand. Ike genuinely enjoyed eating Super Spicy Curry, even though it is considered almost inedible by most smashers.

"Don't worry Ike, we got plenty of curry back at the mansion!" Assured Pit, which lightened up the mercenary's mood.

The only one who was not burned to a crisp was the orange pseudo-dragon Charizard, who was actually the cause of the explosion. The four smashers challenged each other to a Dragon Burp Contest. The way it works is that the competitors would have to eat as much Super Spicy Curry as they can withing a set time, and then the one to burp out the biggest flame won. Charizard already had a natural advantage because of his ability to breath fire.

Charizard posed with his arms on his waist as he was being congratulated by his fellow smashers. Charizard might have been a little spoiled by his trainer Red with all the praise he got from him and his teammates after every victory back in his world. Although this was because Red was a master strategist when it came to battle, his trusty fire type has the blissful ignorance of never geing switched into Stealth Rock, an entry hazard that severely cripples pokemon like Charizard the second they enter battle.

Charizard growled proudly to thank his competition's sportsmanship. The flame pokemon finally noticed an additional smasher in the crowd. Falco was there applauding, it was difficult to tell whether his clapping was genuine or sarcastic.

"Ummm... where did you come from?" Asked Pit because he didn't see Falco coming from anywhere.

"That was real impressive what you did back there!" The bird praised, completely ignoring the angel's question.

Charizard raised an eyebrow in suspicion, this was the very same guy who insulted him this morning and then fought him again in what was undoubtedly a grudge match.

"Listen, I came to say I'm sorry for what I said this morning, I should've accepted the fact that you were the better fighter." Falco confessed, who was internally shouting in rage for giving up his pride to his rival. He swore that he was going to knock Robin's teeth out if his plan failed.

Falco instantly earned the pokemon's trust from his "confession", who growled in approval of the pilot's apology.

"This win calls for a celebration! Dedicated to the champion Hot-head!" Charizard snarled at Falco's nickname given to him.

"Oh sorry, I mean Charizard!" The bird corrected himself.

"So where is this celebration taking place?" Asked Pit.

"Sorry Cupid, this is a celebration for winners only. Come with me Zard!" Charizard then followed Falco back into the mansion.

-The Auditorium-

"So here we are, looks like we're here early!" Falco said, the many rows of seats in the auditorium were empty with the stage sealed with crimson curtains.

Charizard growled questioningly to the space bird, Falco ignored his snarling and proceeded to escort the fire type to his seat. Minutes of silence have passed as the other smashers sat idly in their seats until Falco decided to get up and leave, but was noticed by Charizard at the very exit.

"Oh don't mind me, just gonna fetch a snack before the line gets crowded!" Falco then slammed the door shut, leaving the pokemon locked in the auditorium.

Before Charizard's suspicions aroused, the crimson curtain slowly opened. In the stage was a fellow pokemon, pink, and round, holding her favorite microphone.

Uh-Oh

"Jiggely-Puff Jiggely-Jigglypuff..." Jigglypuff sang her iconic lullaby, Charizard tried to escape the theater through the exit, but the door was locked. Leaving him helpless to the balloon pokemon's hit song.

The orange dragon became drowsier and sleepier until he finally collapsed into unconsciousness.

"Puff?" Jigglypuff was startled by the loud thud of Charizard hitting the floor. She began to inflate her cheeks with a grumpy expression in her face, she took out her black marker and began to begrudgingly draw marking all over Charizard's body.

"Hey Hot-head im back and- Oh..." Falco played his act as he pretended to act surprised at a sleeping Charizard covered in scribbles.

"Puff!" Jigglypuff said angrily to the space mercenary, who promised her a bigger crowd that would cheer for her singing.

"Listen, I know I didn't get you the audience you wanted but- AAAHHH!" Falco suddenly shouted to astonish the pink puffball.

"Jiggly!" the scared Jigglypuff deployed her bubbleshield in panic, Falco then took out a Mr. Saturn out his pocket.

Falco threw the bizarre creature into Jigglypuff's shield, breaking it instantly.

*BRAANG!*

"PUUUUFFF!" Jigglypuff squealed as she suddenly skyrocketed up into the sky, leaving a hole in the auditorium's roof.

Falco then approached the sleeping Charizard and tried to drag him away by pulling his tail. The pokemon's weight was too much for the bird, leaving him tired from his wasted efforts.

"Alright, this calls for a job for..." Falco said outloud.

*BOOM!* an explosion suddenly occurred from the auditorium's wall. Through the smoke of the explosion leapt out Captain Falcon with his knee sticking out, as he used his knee of justice to break through the wall.

"Captain Falcon! YES!" The racer shouted in his usual confident tone as he flexed and posed to the non-existent ladies near by.

"Sup Falcon, I need your muscles to lift Hot-head over there!" Falco pointed to the sleeping dragon.

"YES! Falcon Lift!" The brute lifted the flame pokemon with ease and bursted through another wall with a Knee Smash.

"Falcon! I need you to keep shut!" Falco said in annoyance of the the racer's antics.

"YES!" Captain Falcon loudly acknowledged, which instantly broke his promise before it even began.

Falco groaned as he walked towards another section of the Smash Mansion, followed by Captain Falcon carrying Charizard.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	6. Chapter 6: Cruelty

-The Hallway outside the Battle Room-

"I-I-I don't know if I can do this..." Luigi stammered nervously.

"I understand Luigi, but we all have to face our fears, doing it one at a time is progress right?" Robin said to comfort his friend. Luigi has a crippling fear to nearly everything, he is especially intimidated by heavyweight fighters.

"Can't we fight someone less scary?" Luigi whined. Luigi's mention of "we" brought great guilt to the tactician, he lied about partnering up against Charizard because there was no way he would've agreed to a 1v1 battle against a large, fire-breathing dragon.

"No, this match is being spectated by many smashers, they want to see YOU fight!" Robin said, growing impatient because of the pressure Falco has brought down on him with his blackmailing.

"Oohhhh... why me of all people, why couldn't they scheduled Mario to fight this?" Luigi groaned, Robin knew if he told him the reason why he was brought here, it would ruin their friendship. Robin had to think fast to dodge that question.

"Luigi, listen to me, you are stronger than you think! You depend on Mario to do everything, what are you going to do when he is gone!?" Robin snapped at the green plumber with arms on his shoulders, hoping to bring him to his senses. This only terrified Luigi even more, with a fearful tear going down his eye. He was right, what will he do when his brother is no longer by his side?

"Oh gods, Luigi i'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Robin backed away from him, with the pain of guilt and regret eating at him.

"*sniff* It's okay, you are right, I need to become stronger. For all my friends, for the princess, and for him..." Luigi said as he was on the verge of bursting into tears.

"Please Luigi, I don't want you to hurt yourself over something that I shouldn't have said." The tactician told him.

"It's too late Robin, the battle is about to start." Luigi got up and regained his composure and walked towards the metal door which led to the Battle Room.

Before Robin could follow him into the room, the metal door suddenly shut in front of him, leaving Luigi trapped inside the dark room. The green plumber was oblivious to his friend's absence.

"I can't let you do that Bookworm!" Robin noticed Falco near the Battle Room door button.

"Wasn't planning to..." Robin sadly replied "Now where is my poem!?" Robin became slightly hostile to the space bird.

"Woah there cowboy! the deal isn't done yet until I have that big, fiery, oaf's self-esteem crushed!" Falco smirked at the mage's glare.

"Ya' comin' with me, don't wanna see your plan do it's magic?" Falco's smug face began to look more sadistic by the minute, knowing Robin couldn't bear to see his friend in terror.

-Palutena's Temple-

Luigi was transported into a heavenly realm where multiple masses of land floated above the sea of clouds below. The battlefield was so ridiculously large that Luigi's opponent was nowhere to be found.

Nobody but him alone, wait...

"R-R-Robin? Where are you? ROBIN!?" Luigi began to panic at his friend's absence.

Luigi explored the temple in search of his tactician friend, but eventually ran into an unconscious, orange creature.

Charizard had the dramatic sense of timing of waking up for when Luigi approached him sleeping. The fire type was in a state of confusion and rage, and he made sure there will be victims in his rampage.

The pokemon began to dash in a low glide towards Luigi, the plumber followed his instincts, turned tail, and ran away in fear.

-Meanwhile in the Spectator Theater-

The whole theater roared in laughter as they watched Charizard chase after a terrified Luigi throughout the stage as displayed by the theater's screen. Part of the plan was to gather up the rudest smashers to watch the mighty Charizard take on the mansion's biggest loser. For them, it was a win/win situation for whoever won this fight. The sight of Charizard losing to Luigi would be a memorable spectacle, or Luigi being roasted into a crisp was also entertaining.

"BWAHAHAHA Mario's brother is such a dweeb!" Bowser laughed at the sight of his nemesis' brother running in terror as he took a bite out his snacks.

"Sure is Papa! I'm going to make him my jester for when I'm done with Mario!" Bowser Jr cackled in agreement with his father.

"HAHA That's my boy!" Bowser lifted his son to sit on his gargantuan shoulder as he proudly gloated of his Prince of Mischief.

"Place your bets! Place your bets! Will the Blazing Fury defeat the Green Wonder? WAHAHA!" Wario laughed on his betting stand, on the desk stood a golden balance scale, one displaying an image of Charizard and the other Luigi's. Charizard's scale was filled with piles of gold coins, severely outweighing Luigi's.

Robin watched in horror at Luigi's humiliation from a booth table, he couldn't believe how cruel his fellow smashers were capable of being.

"Lighten up Bookworm! This is your doing!" Captain Falcon said in an unusually kind matter to Robin.

"I never realized that the mightiest warriors of many realms would behave like a band of drunken brigands." Robin said in annoyance of the senseless banter going on in the theater.

"Robin, you are a genius! I never thought the Spectator Theater would be such a great place to hang out!" Wario congratulated the confused tactician, noticing they finally referred to him by his real name.

"Now you have really tipped the scales!" Wario pointed at the horribly unbalanced scale, tipped on Charizard's favor.

Robin chuckled to himself at Wario using his catch phrase at such perfect timing. However, his lightened mood instantly ended when he noticed Falco glaring daggers at him.

"Remember our deal? so explain WHY LUIGI ISN'T DOING JACK!" Falco said angrily as the odds of humiliating Charizard were becoming slim.

"I'm a tactician, I don't leave things to chance." Robin confidently retaliated to the salty falcon. The two then focused back on the screen.

-Back in Palutena's Temple-

Luigi was finally cornered at the very far right edge of the temple, fatigued and intimidated as ever as Charizard slowly approached him with a smug look on his face.

Charizard roared at the cowardly plumber, whose legs were trembling as he attempted to put on a defensive stance, which only amused the fire pokemon.

"-You are stronger than you think... what are you going to do when he is gone!?" Robin's voice echoed through Luigi's mind, the thoughts of his words brought him pain, but they also awakened something that lay dormant within Luigi for a long time.

"He won't ever be gone... THEY WILL HAVE TO GET THROUGH ME FIRST!" Luigi bursted into rage and confidence. Motivation began to fuel him, to become stronger and protect Mario and everyone he loves.

As Charizard began charging his Flare Blitz, Luigi quickly jumped away from the direction the attack was about go to. Charizard was locked in a furious tackle of flames towards the offstage. His stored energy used for the attack prevented him from having second thoughts. The pokemon inevitably launched himself coated with flames and fell to his doom offscreen.

Charizard has lost his first stock by a Self Destruct.

-Spectator Theater-

The whole theater bursted in laughter at the sudden blunder, those who bet coins in Charizard's favor were in an outrage of disbelief. Falco stared back at Robin with a shocked look at his face.

-Palutena's Temple-

Charizard had respawned back into the fight, stomping in frustration. He once again approached Luigi and attempted to do a Dash kick with his big, stubby foot.

The kick was stopped by a Perfect Shield by Luigi, the plumber proceeded to grab Charizard when he was vulnerable, something the regular Luigi would never do.

The Mario brother threw Charizard down and body stomped him, making the pseudo-dragon bounce upwards. Luigi then followed up with a barrage of Forward Aerial slaps that easily comboed into each other. The attacks launched Charizard further into the air, where he fell victim to multiple Upward somersault kicks.

Charizard was unable to escape the combo due to his size and poor horizontal aerial mobility. Luigi was now preparing the finishing blow.

"This is for you Bro!" Luigi began to spin rapidly with his arms spread wide like helicopter blades. The Luigi Cyclone was spinning upwards towards Charizard, who became trapped in the wave of spinning attacks. The final blow sent Charizard so high up that it sent him off screen, claiming his last stock.

"GAME!" The Announcer boomed.

"The winner is... Luigi!" The voice announced once more, Luigi unleashed a series of panicked slaps into the air before calming down and regaining his breath.

-Spectator Theater -

The whole room stood speechless at what they just saw.

Luigi, considered to be the Mansion's biggest loser, just had a flawless victory.

The whole room burst into chaos with laughter and angry shouting once again.

"What kind of Octorok secretion was that!?" The King of Evil Ganondorf roared in disbelief.

"Bet is rigged! Bet is rigged!" Bowser Jr ranted.

"How do you know about gambling?" Bowser glared at his son.

"I-I Heard from Papa when spying!" Bowser Jr said to his gigantic father.

"It seems some lucky jerk was brave enough to bet on Luigi." Wario said as he barely noticed the quantity of coins on Luigi's scale, still overshadowed by the pile of gold in Charizard's scale.

The crowd began to settle down as they made way for someone who came from the very back, approaching Wario's scale. Revealing to be Luigi's brother, Mario.

"M-M-Mario I-I-" several smashers stuttered in an attempt to justify their cruelty to his brother.

"I heard everything, and you should all be very ashamed of yourselves..." Mario said in a tone of slight anger and disappointment as he claimed his reward, and walked out without saying a word.

-The Hallway outside the Battle Room-

Charizard walked out the Battle Room with frustration and disappointment from his loss. Before he could think it couldn't get any worse, he was ambushed by an angry crowd of his fellow smashers hurling insults at him.

"How could lose to a green wimp like him!?" Bowser shouted at his fellow heavyweight.

"You are a disgrace to your species!" Mewtwo said in his telepathic voice.

"Orange Dummy!" Bowser Jr barked with his father on his side.

Charizard was overwhelmed by the cruel insults of the crowd. Unable to defend his pride in this situation he dashed out to his room attempting to hide his tears urging to escape his eyes and slammed the door shut.

Meanwhile Luigi walked out with anger and betrayal in his face, he ignored the few insults left in the crowd and kept walking to his room.

"Luigi I can explain! I-" Robin, his roommate wanted to talk but.

"Don't talk to me!" Luigi said coldly before he locked out Robin from their room.

"What have I done..." Robin said to himself in guilt.

"What you did, is my dirty work." A voice said from behind.

"Falco..." Robin glared at the bird.

"You really went out of your way to make this plan work Bookworm, your people back home is lucky to have a guy like you." Falco praised in a serious tone.

Robin's guilt could not hurt him anymore than now, Luigi was his only friend in the Smash Mansion and he just manipulated him selfishly. He focused so much on his strategic genius that he has forgotten the value of friendship.

"Where... did you leave them..." Robin reminded Falco about the source of all of Robin's troubles.

"I think I'm gonna keep those for a while actually!" Falco said, even though the papers are still at the hands of Meta Knight.

"That wasn't part of the deal you dastard!" Robin slammed him against the wall with his Levin Sword in hand, Falco quickly took out his blaster and shot him in the leg.

"AAGHH!" Robin cried in pain as he held his leg where there was a mark that burned through his clothes and a part of his flesh.

Falco followed up with an Up Smash kick to Robin's face, the Avatar fell on his back with a black eye and a heavy nose bleed.

"Welcome to the Smash Mansion... Robin" Falco said in a dark tone before leaving him to bleed in the hallway.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	7. Chapter 7: Burnt Out

-Charizard's Room-

Charizard laid down on his specialized pokemon bed, tears slowly coming down his face. He was still hurt by the humiliation and insults. Although Charizard can normally handle a good number of both physical and verbal beatings, the cowardly green plumber has sent his enormous ego crashing down like a burning tower. Charizard closed his eyes so he could ponder of his troubles.

According to him, winning meant attention, attention meant friends, friends meant praise, and praise meant happiness. Before he ever met his trainer Red, he was a young Charmander belonging to an abusive trainer. Charizard never remembered his name, but he remembered the things the trainer did to him.

He was weak, those words were told to him so many times. Deep within the pokemon's mind, more memories began to arise.

-Flashback-

"Char!" A terrified Charmander cried as he was cornered in his trainer's room, bracing himself from none other than his angered master.

"You idiot! You weakling! How is it that you can't anything right!?" The trainer yelled in frustration as he kicked and stomped the orange lizard in the corner.

The Charmander eventually evolved to a Charmeleon, in this more powerful form, he was able to win more battles. At this point, his mind has established that winning was everything. Winning meant no beatings from his master, winning meant living another day. The Charmeleon was still poorly trained and weak compared to most of his kind, constantly malnourished due to neglect of his trainer, who he begrudgingly obeyed.

When he has finally evolved into Charizard, the pokemon became too strong for his trainer to control. The hatred that accumulated within Charizard was released when he rebelled against his abusive trainer and mauled him. When he finally clawed the bloodied trainer's backpack open, his pokeball rolled out and crushed it. At that moment, Charizard flew far away to live his new life as an independent pokemon.

It wasn't until a year later when Charizard was finally caught by Red, at first he wanted to tear his new trainer apart, but Red's kindness and experience eventually earned the fire type's respect. Charizard then became Red's strongest and most loyal pokemon.

-Charizard's Room-

Charizard opened his eyes when he heard his room's door creak open, revealing to be little Pikachu.

"Pika, Pikachu..." The electric mouse squeaked, showing concern for his depressed friend.

Charizard did a slight growl to say that he does not wish for company right now.

Pikachu refused to leave and slowly approached the orange pseudo-dragon, Charizard stubbornly turned his back on him and was now facing the wall.

"Pikaa..." Pikachu persisted as he nudged the fire type's back gently so he does not irritate him in such an emotionally sensitive state.

The larger pokemon kept ignoring the electric type, which made Pikachu slighty annoyed. He then shot out a Thunder Jolt, making Charizard jump in surprise. Charizard turned to Pikachu with looks that could explode with rage at any second.

"Settle down you two!" A blue, bipedal canine said entering the room as he sensed an aura of hurt and anger. Charizard refused to drop his intimidating combat stance, while Pikachu turned to face the aura pokemon.

"Violence is not the answer!" Lucario scolded both pokemon, Pikachu immediately apologized while Charizard remained stubborn as ever.

"Charizard, I know you are upset, but that is no reason to antagonize your friends!" Lucario said trying to reason with the hotheaded lizard, hence Falco's nickname.

Charizard argued with a series of snarls, roars, and angry stomping.

"You let your arrogance get the better of you, it is your pride that has betrayed you, not them." Lucario replied.

Charizard growled even more in return.

"It isn't that we like you because of your winning streak." Lucario's words grabbed Charizard's attention.

"It is because we care about you, you are our friend, and as friends we must look out for each other." Lucario's normally rough voice softened at that sentence. Despite his serious nature, Lucario deeply cared for his fellow pokemon, even if he doesn't usually show it.

Charizard turned towards Pikachu to ask if that is true.

Pikachu nodded in agreement.

Charizard was touched with the realization of the truth.

No longer does he have to care about winning all the time or keep doing an act for the sake of his reputation. Having a group of friends that you can count on is a victory on it's own.

Tears came down from Charizard's eyes once again, but this time they were tears of joy. He picked up Pikachu with his large arms and hugged him.

Although Pikachu was almost suffocating, he was glad to see his friend happy once again.

His pride might have burned out, but his friendships were the fire of a great star.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	8. Chapter 8: Recovery

-The Hallway outside the Battle Room-

Robin was in great pain, not only from his guilt, but from the injuries dealt by Falco. He was unable to stand up because of the burn mark on his leg, and standing up with such a great headache would be nauseating to the tactician. His vision was becoming blurry as he slowly loses consciousness from the heavy nosebleed.

The white-haired man weakly turned his head forward to see something walking towards him. Half-conscious, he saw a blur of blue. The first thing to come his mind when it came to blue was Lucina.

But no, the lovely princess of Ylisse was out of the question when Robin's blurry color palette began to show purple and gray.

"Meta Knight" Robin mentally concluded, one of the dastards working with Falco. The one who currently has his poetry in his possession. Robin was too weak to show any hostility towards Falco's pawn. He slowly blacked out as the round knight approached him.

-Medical Room-

Robin finally woke up from his state of unconsciousness, he immediately closed his eyes again after being greeted with a bright light. His eyes slowly adjusted and began to scan the room he was in.

He was in a bed in the middle of the room, there were shelves filled with numerous capsules and boxes. Noticing some white wrappings on his injured leg, he realized he was in the Medical Room. Robin then wondered why would Meta Knight help him, as he is part of the group of smashers who harassed and manipulated him. Perhaps the masked puffball was not so bad after all.

"Ah, you're finally awake!" A voice interrupted Robin's thoughts, he turned towards the source of the voice and saw a short, portly man in white with brown hair.

"Mario?" Robin asked the doctor, he quickly recognized his round nose and mustache.

"No." The Italian said, "I am his second cousin Dr Jorgiano Mario, but everyone calls me Dr Mario" The doctor introduced himself.

"The two of you look... identical..." Robin said to him. "I only assumed that you were a variation of Mario when I saw your slot."

"Yes yes it happens, I used participate as a fighter back in the tournament before the previous one. In the last tournament, I worked behind the scenes to be able to attend the increasing number of fighters in the roster." Dr Mario explained.

"Although the current roster is even bigger than the last, I am able to work as both a smasher and the mansion's medic." The veteran continued as he went from shelf to shelf rummaging through the rows of medicine.

"Ah, here it is!" The doctor said as he took a ridiculously oversized pill out of the shelf and suddenly hurled it into the tactician's face.

*SMACK!*

"OW! What the hell was that for?!" Robin felt a sting of pain after being suddenly pelted by a Mega-Vitamin pill.

"Oh don't be such a baby..." Dr Mario said in a playful tone, amused at the tactician's reaction.

"What kind of medical- Whoah..." Robin was amazed at how quickly the pain of his leg and headache went away. He still thought this treatment was bizarre, who throws medicine at their patients from across the room?

"Mega-Vitamins, my pride and joy, good for healing and better for hurting!" The doctor said proudly of his great invention.

"Couldn't you make something that doesn't require throwing at people's faces?" Robin said annoyed from the doctor's projectile.

"Yeah but it isn't nowhere near as fun." Dr Mario responded as he walked towards the door and opening it.

"You may now visit the patient." The doctor spoke to whoever was outside the door.

"Thank you cousin." a familiar voice said to who has confirmed to be his cousin.

"Luigi?" Robin was surprised to see his friend again considering how angry he was at him.

"Oh Robin im so sorry! It's my fault you got hurt like this!" The plumber in green said worryingly as he approached the recovering tactician.

"No Luigi, I should be the one apologizing." Robin said to him as guilt returned to him.

"I shouldn't have tricked you into that battle, I have caused so much suffering to you and Charizard." Robin said as he also felt remorse for the victim of his and Falco's plan.

"Why would you plan something so mean in the first place?" Luigi asked as he knew it wasn't like him to be using his tactics to personally hurt someone.

"Okay, I will not try to justify my actions, but allow me to explain." Robin took a deep breath before explaining his situation.

"I have feelings for a certain someone, and I lack the courage to attempt to court her, so I have been spending my time trying to write a poem to express my affection." Robin confessed to his friend, knowing that Luigi is very trustworthy in keeping secrets.

"Unfortunately, I am not the best writer in poetry, and Falco took advantage of that. He threatened that Captain Falcon would read it out loud to the whole mansion unless I helped him get revenge on Charizard." Robin was going to hate explaining the next part.

"The plan was to demoralize Charizard by making him lose to an underestimated opponent. At that point, my pride in tactics got the better of me. As much as I regret to say this, but you and Olimar were my main candidates. But I chose you because I know you would've won." Luigi was touched at the tactician's words, someone other than his brother had faith in him. He didn't deny the fact that not many respected him, but he also felt sympathy for the situation Robin was in.

"You know, I too used feel the same way for someone, but you know me..." Luigi related to him as he remembered a certain someone.

"Her name was Daisy, she was always so cheerful and always wore an orange dress and had the most beautiful brown hair..." Nostalgia began to overwhelm the plumber. Remembering the times he along with his brother, including Daisy and the rest of his friends playing all sorts of activities. From kart-racing, to playing tennis, everyday he would gaze at her kindness and beauty. Dreaming that he will spend his life with her.

"Everyday I would tell myself that it would be the day I tell her that I love her, but by the time I gathered my courage, someone else already told her first." Tears of regret began to run down Luigi's face, Robin extended his arms to comfort the Mario brother.

"Tell her that you love her, tell her before it is too late." Luigi sobbed at the mage.

"I will, but there is something I need to take care of first." Robin stood up from his bed to leave the Medical Room into the mansion's hallways with Luigi following behind.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	9. Chapter 9: Get That Knight!

-The vast Hallways in the Smash Mansion-

Robin strolled aimlessly throughout the mansion's halls as he was trying to come up with a plan to retrieve his poem and bring Falco to justice. He established that the first step into his plan was to interrogate Meta Knight, he had a couple of questions for him. Why did he save him and where is his poem?

Knowing that Meta Knight is a highly disciplined fighter, getting him into a spot to where he will forcefully reveal any vital information will be next to impossible. The masked warrior is so sharp in his senses that he would be aware of his surroundings even when he is asleep, unless he can be forcefully put to sleep by something like Jigglypuff's singing.

An idea suddenly sparked into Robin's head, he remembered hearing about some fancy technological devices that were able to play sounds from Samus and some of the younger smashers. Perhaps he could probably turn a simple audio device into a weapon by making it able to emit Jigglypuff's singing.

"Luigi, is there perhaps a kind of music shop around these parts?" The tactician asked to the plumber accompanying him.

"There is a music shop called GB Music that opened up a few weeks ago, the lady who owns it is an old assist trophy from the previous tournament." Luigi replied.

"That's great! But how are we going to get there?" He asked again.

"Leave it to Luigi!" He then took out a golden amulet with the Smash Bros symbol and tossed it to the ground. The amulet began to open into 4 sections and a glowing portal swirled open.

"A portable Outrealm Gate, how is this possible?" Robin watched in amazement at the portal summoned before him.

"Outrealm? What is that?" Luigi was confused from the Ylissean vocabulary.

"It is what we refer to outside worlds different from our own, this includes worlds of pure beaches and hot springs." Robin explained.

Luigi scratched his head and walked into the portal, Robin followed after slight hesitation.

-Town and City-

It was a fairly sunny day in Smash City, the community cheerful as ever, and the trees were producing the freshest fruit. Although their mayor, Villager was away in the tournament, the people were always happy to see him when he participated in a battle on that platform in the sky.

Meanwhile on the actual ground, a strange glow materialized out of nowhere and a portal formed. Where the plumber and tactician jumped out. Robin looked around the plaza in which they stood in, surrounded by cuddly anthropomorphic animals that were half his height.

"So this is a society that is run by civilized animals? There are so many different species coexisting with one another!" Robin said in fascination, which earned his a few awkward looks and glares from the nearby critters. Words like "Hmmph, tourists!" could be grumpily heard among them.

"So where is the store?" Luigi immediately pointed to a store that significantly stood out from the other buildings, the walls were black and highly decorated with spray painted markings of skulls, flames, and thunder. The ground around it shook like a small earthquake as it emitted loud rock music. The words "GB MUSIC" proudly glowed with neon lights.

despite their ears begging not to approach the shop, the two smashers braved forward and opened the door. The inner walls of the shop were covered with music albums, instruments, and plastic that boxed some bizarre rectangular contraptions composed of a black screen on one side.

"I don't think the owner of this shop is from the same world." Robin whispered out loud.

"Some brave soul dares enter the shop of the Great Barbara?" a smug female voice spoke behind the counter, revealing to be what appeared to be a woman with purple clothes and hair holding a guitar. Robin would have assumed her to be human if it wasn't for the barely noticeable black nose and hair that vaguely suggested the shape of ears.

"Great Barbara? Is that what the GB stands for?" Robin asked the woman.

"Well what else would it stand for?" She smirked.

"A little narcissistic is it not?" He questioned.

"Whatever, so what can I help you boys with?" Barbara put away her guitar and took out one of the small-screened rectangular devises.

"Could I interest you with the latest ITGB Pod? It stands for I The Great Bar-"

"Actually we are looking for a song album." Luigi interrupted who was also growing tired of her self-obsession.

"I can offer you "Great Barbara's Greatest Hits Volume 11" as an added bonus if you or-"

"We are looking specifically for recordings of Jigglypuff's singing." Robin cut her off. Barbara had a blank expression in her face and stood silent for a few seconds before turning off the music playing inside the store.

"Im sorry but, can you repeat that again?" Barbara asked in disbelief, someone in the universe actually wants to buy that little pink ball's "music".

"We are looking for a recording of Jigglypuff singing, is there something wrong?" Robin repeated.

"That little brat kept begging me to sell her albums in my store, the second she left I just threw them away but lucky for you, fate decided to spare one." Barbara started digging into her trashcan and took out what looked like a sandwich of plastic and cardboard.

The album's cover was a horribly crude crayon drawing of the pink balloon pokemon, her left eye was drawn slightly bigger than the right one, and her right foot was longer than the rest of the drawing's limbs. The yellow scribbled mess of a title was impossible to read.

"Gods, is it even functional?" Robin stared at the pitiful display of the little pokemon's attempt at marketing.

"Doubt it, but are sure you want to waste your money on that crud?" Barbara felt concern for the two smashers, for their mental health at least.

"Yes, we really need it." the tactitian assured in a serious tone.

"Alright, ill sell it to you IF you also purchase one of my albums too!" She said.

"Forceful marketing? not even Anna does that!" Robin was surprised at the bat woman.

"Do you want it or not!" Barbara stubbornly stood her ground.

"Fine, Here!" Robin said bluntly and plopped a bag full of Smash coins into the counter. She finally surrendered the plastic casings to him. He opened the casings and revealed a CD in each, which were still foreign to to the tactician.

"So how do we use these?" he asked to Luigi.

"We can put them into a computer or anything that could play CDs." The plumber answered.

"Or you can buy my latest- Hey come back here!" Barbara's customers immediately fled from the store.

-Later in Meta Knight's room-

Meta Knight opened the door to his room and immediately noticed he stepped on a string that ran horizontally on the walls of his room's entrance, clearly someone set up a trap for him.

The star warrior suddenly felt a pair of headphones clamp into his head, he immediately tried to remove them but they were stuck on him. He quickly turned around to point his Galaxia towards Robin and Luigi holding a music player. At the touch of a button, Meta Knight began to hear Jigglypuff's song through the headphones.

"Jiggely-Puuuff-Jiggely-" The song played, but the masked swordsman was still standing with that same intimidating glare. He began to slowly walk towards Robin and Luigi in a threatening manner, with terror filling their eyes.

"If you think a lullaby is enough to to take me down, then you are terribly mistaken..." Meta Knight spoke with his cold, deep voice. His sword Galaxia was positioned ready to cut them down.

"That is why I happen to have a backup plan!" Robin said confidently while a panicked Luigi was frantically changing the CD.

"GAAAUUGGH" Meta Knight screamed in agony when his ears were suddenly attacked by heavy metal music in maximum volume.

"BARBARA IS GREAT, BARBARA IS COOL, BARBARA IS THE VERY BEEEEEESSST!"  
The song shrieked in a deafening, growling voice.

Meta Knight stumbled bumping from wall to wall as he desperately tried to remove the headphones that brought him suffering.

"Don't just stand there, END ME!" He yelled at his tormentors.

Robin and Luigi stood watching in amusement and horror at what they have done. The tactician then hesitantly took out a heavy tome that was as thick as a dictionary and slammed it into Meta Knight's face, knocking him out cold.

"Rope him up quickly! We don't know how long he is going to be out for!" Robin commanded superstitiously, he knew he was overestimating Meta Knight's abilities to some degree, but it is foolish to underestimate someone who is infamously known for being the champion of the last tournament.

-Parts Unknown-

Everything was pitch black...

"You have awoken..." A voice spoke when two yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.

"Is this supposed to intimidate me?" A deep voice sourced from the direction of the glowing eyes.

"S-s-silence fool! W-we have uhh... questions, and ummm... y-y-you have the answers." A second voice nervously stuttered, which completely killed the seriousness of the situation.

"Theatrics do not suit you, tactician." The eyes spoke unamused, his voice alone brought a chill into the spines of his captors.

"Fine, where did you leave my poetry?" Robin's default tone of voice returned as he turned on a light bulb, Meta Knight slightly flinched at the sudden light on his eyes and the warmth hitting the surface of his face.

Wait... his face?

"Return my mask this instant!" The blue puffball immediately yelled after realizing he has been unmasked. The intimidation he used to emit was gone, his adorable face was one similar to Kirby's with big, yellow eyes, and pink blushes. Because he was not used to having his face exposed, he unintentionally puffed his cheeks into a cute but grumpy look on him to express anger.

Robin lightly chuckled at his display, the mighty Meta Knight reduced to a helpless ball of cuteness is something to be cherished. The Brawl veteran gave up on struggling to escape and took a deep breath.

"Your work is no longer at my possession, Falco wanted them back after I finished rewriting it. I was going to inform you after the battle between Luigi and Charizard, but then I found you injured and took you to the medical room, which leads to your second question about why I saved you." Robin's eyes went wide at the knight's prediction.

"How did you know that was going to be my second question?" Robin was surprised, was he a mind reader?

"I know we are not the friendliest of acquaintances, so I knew you were going to be asking questions after helping you like that. Additionally, it would be dishonorable of me to leave my opponent succumb to injury outside the battlefield." Meta Knight continued.

"Opponent? Is the tournament the only thing you care about?" Robin asked, he grew a slight respect towards the star warrior, a true knight with a code of honor and only the intent of becoming stronger.

"Yes, I work in secret to help fighters become their strongest. I agreed to help Falco ruin Charizard's pride to make him reach his true potential, without his crippling arrogance, the two of us will learn and improve as warriors when we encounter in combat." Meta Knight looked up and stared at the tactician.

"I also told Falco to place your paper in the room of your loved one." Robin did not take kindly to his words.

"WHAT?!" He yelled in surprise and anger, nearly wanting to strangle Meta Knight right where he stood.

"Your abilities have been hindered by a burden troubling your mind, I took it upon myself to do something about that, whether she will accept you or reject you is not up to me. In the end, both of your minds will be at peace." Robin was in shock at the meddlesome knight, he shouldn't be going into other people's personal business and take control of their situation.

"That is not your place to be doing that!" Robin yelled at him.

"You are right, it is yours. Somebody had to." Meta Knight's words spoke truth into the tactician, Robin has had feelings towards her for a long time. They fought side by side back in their world and sparred together in the tournament. It wasn't long until strange feelings in his heart wished they would become more than comrades. His procrastination of confessing his love for her has taken it's toll, it will all come down to encountering her after she has read his pathetic excuse for romantic poetry.

No, It was not inevitable just yet, there is still a chance he can retrieve them before she enters her room and notices them.

"Before you leave and do what I think you are going to do, untie me." Meta Knight simply demanded.

"Promise not to interfere or attack me and I will." Robin was unsure if letting him go was a good idea.

"Return my mask and I might just not dismember you." Meta Knight grimly threatened.

Robin placed the mask back into the puffball's face, his intimidating glare returned as his Kirby-like features were hidden by that cold, hard, mask. Meta Knight immediately teleported away with his cape, leaving an empty chair and a loose rope. Robin and Luigi were disturbed at their realization.

They never untied him after returning him his mask.

-TO BE CONTINUED...


	10. Chapter 10: Payback Is A Ball Of Pink

-Meanwhile In the vast hallways of the Smash Mansion-

"Excuse me, coming through!" Robin said to the passing smashers blocking his path as he dashed across the halls as fast as he could. Which is at rather underwhelming speeds, Robin wasn't the most physically fit fighter, since the use of magical tomes and strategy is a more mentally demanding task. It wasn't long until Robin had to stop in the middle of the hallway to catch his breath.

"Robin! where are you going?!" Luigi came to a stop to check on his tactician friend gasping for air.

"I need to... *huff* get to her room... *puff* before she reads it!" Robin could barely speak back as he slowed down to walk as far as his remaining stamina could take him.

"You told me you were going to confess to her!" Luigi was disappointed in his friend.

"I will, just... not like this..." The exhausted tactician wheezed out. He had his sights on the door he was walking towards. Each bedroom in the Smash Mansion was made up of 2 roommates, with the exception of the Koopalings and Rosalina and her Lumas having their specialized bedrooms for familiar reasons. Robin's eyes were only focused on one of the two names written on the door.

"Lucina-"

-Lucina's Room 9:34 PM-

Robin noticed that the door was unlocked and slightly open. He carefully opened the door and peeked his head in to see if the room was clear, and indeed it was. Strangely, the room's desk had a computer screen displaying the entrance to Peach's room in the hallway viewed from the roof. Robin was surprised, he never really took Lucina as someone who was able to use such technology.

"Umm... hello Lucina, it's me Samus!" Robin was slighty startled by the disembodied voice of the female bounty hunter, only to realize it came from the audio device set up on the small desk next to Lucina's bed.

"Now the following message is intended incase one of these following events occurred, A: You have been captured by your fellow Smash Ladies and you have returned with a princess gown or any sort of dress stuck onto you.  
B: You decided to ignore my advice of staying in the room and have returned after realizing that it is the only safe place for you at this moment.  
C: You are Captain Falcon and you are trying to search for ways to flirt with her by rummaging through her personal stuff.  
D: You are Robin and you are here to get back that poem that was laying on her bed before I even got to set up any of these devices you see right now." Samus's voice went on and on.

"Assuming you are not Lucina, I will now go over message C: Captain Falcon, if you are hearing this, get the hell out of here creep! Just because you gave up on hopelessly flirting with me after 3 tournaments does not mean you should treat Lucina as your Plan B girlfriend!" Samus's recorded voice said in a hostile tone.

"Now for message D: Robin, please don't write poetry, you are only embarrassing yourself. Don't take it the wrong way, I am sure your heart is in the right place, and I trust that you will make her very happy if she feels the same way. Just man up and tell her yourself, because that would tell her she is worth the courage that you apparently don't have!" Robin could tell she was serious.

"I will, just not right now..." He muttered to himself.

Ignoring the rest of the message, Robin snatched the poem from the bed and tightly grasped it so it doesn't slip from his hands ever again. He was going to end this once and for all.

"Arcfire!" Robin sharply commanded without even taking out his tome. The paper held in his fist was consumed by small flames that emitted from the palm of his hand. After the sheet of paper was reduced to ashes staining the carpet of the room, Robin gave a deep sigh of relief. It's over now. All that was left to do was to teach Falco a lesson.

-The vast hallways of the Smash Mansion-

"Hey Mario, I was just looking for you!" Robin waved at the red plumber passing by.

"Robin! Bro! What can I do for you?" Mario happily greeted his brother and the tactician.

"Are we still able to submit clips for this week's Smash Highlights?" Asked Robin.

"Sure! In fact, I've been having a little trouble finding any good clips this week. Follow me to the Replay Room."

"I came up with an idea that can make this week's highlights a little special!" Robin forced a cheerful tone so Mario doesn't pick up on his vengeful intentions.

"I'm all ears! Just like that time I picked up a Bunny Hood and a Tanooki Leaf at the same time, hehehehehe!" Mario chuckled at his own joke.

The tactician rolled his eyes, they finally reached the Replay Room and Robin was determined that his new plan will return the favor to Falco for his treachery.

"Okay Mario, I need you to find me every recorded battle with Falco this week please." Robin humbly commanded.

-Later in Hyrule Temple-

Now that Charizard's pride was destroyed, Falco returned to his regular business and was currently in a Stock Match against Megaman, Donkey Kong, and Toon Link. The blue bomber and gorilla were not present in the battle right now because they were already defeated for losing their 2 stocks earlier in the match. It all came down to a tedious 1v1 battle between Falco and Toon Link, who were already down to their last stock. Because Hyrule Temple was such a large stage, Toon Link resorted to defensive tactics in a desperate attempt to hold back his aggressive opponent.

*SHINK!* *FWOOSH!* *BOOM!* The sounds repeated in the same pattern as arrows were shot, boomerangs where thrown, and bombs were being chucked.

"Hnnngh... Cut it out will ya!" Falco growled in frustration as his opponent Toon Link played keep-away by throwing all of his projectiles in his disposal to prevent up close confrontation. Although the Hylian boy carried the Master Sword, he and his older counterpart Link developed a habit of relying on their endless arsenal of arrows, bombs, and boomerangs to rack up damage. Although the strategy is normally effective, the two heroes received negative backlash from their fellow smashers.

Falco also has a projectile in his disposal, but his pride drove him to take on his last opponent in close range. Believing he would drag himself down to his level if he also tried to camp him out.

"Hyaah!" Toon Link cried as he continuously spammed his projectiles.

Falco swiftly evaded away from the arrows, ducked under the boomerangs, and jumped over the bombs. The opponent was only a few feet away and continued to attack with long-range projectiles on a target at close range.

"Alright, this is gettin' old fast." The space bird grumbled.

*BLEENG!* Falco activated his reflector and kicked it towards the swarm of projectiles. The shining, hexagonal ring reflected the arrows, bombs, and boomerangs back to their sender.

*BOOM!* The reflected bomb was increased in power and exploded on Toon Link after he was pelted by his own arrows and boomerangs. The Hylian boy was seen flying out to the offstage and a bright directional explosion followed, confirming that he was knocked out of the stage.

"This battlefield ain't a campin' ground Elf Boy!" Falco boldly commented at the direction where his opponent was defeated.

"GAME!" The announcer enthusiastically shouted.

"The winner is... Falco!" The space bird was standing with his arms crossed.

"Ya'll ain't worth the trouble!" Falco spat to his competitors. Megaman, Donkey Kong, and Toon Link were clapping for the victor as it is a rule that was strictly enforced by Master Hand. The only exceptions to this rule were Jigglypuff because her arms were too short to meet, and Mewtwo because of popular demand from outside forces. Mewtwo's bad sportsmanship and stubborn lack of respect for others is what got him banned from entering the third tournament in the first place.

-Entrance to the Battle Room-

After being teleported back to the Mansion, the smashers walked out from the Battle Room and exchanged praise and words of encouragement until Toon Link approached Falco.

"That was fun match, I hope to battle you again someday!" Toon Link said cheerfully and extended his hand for a hand shake.

"Sure, I love to bash the skulls of little, camping, elven brats like you!" Falco said sadistically. The young Hylian's eyes began to water and he ran away crying.

"That was a little too harsh Falco!" Scolded Fox as he joined into the group.

"Whatever, he had it comin' to him for campin' in the ledge all day!" The blue bird responded.

Meanwhile, holographic screens began to pop out throughout the entire mansion, and the tournament's new anthem began to play.

"It's time! For this week's Smash Highlights!" The announcer could be heard through the whole mansion so everyone could see and hear this weekly event.

"To start off, we will be looking at hilarious incidents that ocurred this week in the category, Super Smash Blunders!" The title was made up of goofy letters which popped on the screen.

The screen then suddenly transitioned to a recorded battle of Falco fighting Yoshi. The green dinosaur was trapped in Falco's spinning Jab attack, the finishing blow sent Yoshi flying back into the offstage. Falco arrogantly followed him offstage with the intent of spiking him down. When the two fighters were face to face offstage, Falco used his Down Air spin kick too soon and was then punished by Yoshi's Forward Aerial headbutt, dunking him hard into the bottom of the screen.

Falco's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped as he remembered that embarrassing battle that took place 2 days ago. He could hear Donkey Kong and Megaman suddenly burst into laughter. The song, Yoshi's Island - Obstacle Course began to play, which provided comic effect as it transitioned to multiple clips that all involved Falco missing the spike and falling offscreen afterwards.

Clip after clip, Falco's ego fell as the screen kept showing what he dreaded the most, failure. He could never tolerate it, although many would say that it helps becoming stronger by learning from mistakes, failure felt like the universe was taunting him for not being good enough. This made Falco obsessed with avoiding failure, every bit of success got into head and warped his mind. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' they said, but you never know what will actually kill you, and Falco wasn't going to let failure kill him anytime soon.

*CRASH!*

A hole was left on the roof of the mansion. What seemed to be a meteor that fell from the sky has crashed down right on Falco. The incapacitated bird suffered a few cracked ribs from the impact. He felt the object that was crushing him, it was like holding a puffy beachball. It wasn't heavy at all, but getting hit by it with tremendous force and speed would be painful to anybody. Dazed, Falco opened his eyes and was greeted with pink and two light-blue eyes filled with vengeance.

Jigglypuff has finally returned after she was sent flying because of her broken shield. Donkey Kong, Megaman, and Fox stared in confusion. Her sudden reappearance also made them realize why she was absent for all the battles that she was scheduled to participate in today.

"Puff!" Jigglypuff squeaked in fury, she grabbed Falco by the throat and brought his face closer to hers. Falco immediately knew what horrible fate he was going to meet when she fell asleep right on top of her betrayer.

*KEEEEEEING!* The sound echoed through the entire mansion.

-Later in Robin's Room-

Robin jumped to his bed after finally returning to his room, after a day of dishonorable schemes, guilt, and injuries. He sighed in relief as he never truly needed a well deserved rest until now. His roommate Luigi sat in the bed next to Robin's, quiet and deep in thought as always.

"Umm.. Robin?" Luigi's voice interrupted Robin's slow descent into sleep. The tactician turned his head and faced him to signify he was paying attention.

"Yes Luigi?" He said quietly because of his exhaustion and deteriorating drowsiness.

"About the time when I fought Charizard, did you really mean to say those things to me?" Luigi asked, his roommate remembered when he told him he was stronger than he thought, and asked him what he would do when Mario isn't with him anymore.

"Yes and no."

Luigi was confused at his roommate's oxymoronic answer.

"Yes, because I truly have faith in your abilities, and you are better than what you give yourself credit for. No, because it was a desperate move of me to pressure you like that with such a personally sensitive topic." Robin further explained.

"It's okay Robin, it's just that I thought about what you said during the fight and it triggered something in me. I felt angry and like my bro's life depended on me, my instinct told me I couldn't afford to lose that fight." The green plumber said.

"The bonds that you share with your brother are impressive." The white-haired Plegian said.

"I'd say Mario is very lucky to have a brother like you, the reason why you are strong in battle is because of your selfless motivation. Unlike most fighters, you don't pursue victory for praise and glory, but you dedicate all of your strength to protect those close to you." Robin could see how much he had in common with his roommate, remembering his hours of studying strategy and tactics to keep all of his comrades alive before every skirmish.

"Thank you...friend." Luigi said softly while giving a sincere smile.

*Knock* *Knock*

Their moment of silence was broken when they heard someone knocking on the door.

"Excuse me, I'd like to request permission to come in." Robin froze at that familiar voice.

"It's me Lucina, Sir Meta Knight told me Robin wanted a word with me?" 'That dastard!' Robin thought. He could no longer delay what he actually desired, Luigi nodded at him with a "Now-or-never." look.

"P-p-please c-come in!" Robin stuttered uneasily, feeling much like his Italian roommate.

The door knob twisted and Robin saw the gate of heaven open. He was speechless at the sight of seeing the Ylissean princess. Expecting to see the Exalt in her regal combat attire and Falchion in her hilt, he was greeted with a young blue-haired woman wearing a simple white dress. Robin couldn't help but admire her natural and delicate beauty. Before she is a princess, before she is a warrior, she is a woman, this was Lucina in her purest form.

"Lucina, why are you wearing that?" Robin couldn't help asking, causing Lucina to slightly blush. Even she knew that it was unusual of her to be wearing such casual clothing.

"The other Smash Ladies persuaded me to wear a dress, I didn't realize Princess Toadstool was so strict with her princess dress code." Robin wasn't so sure that she was being completely honest after remembering the message Samus recorded in her room. Saying that her fellow Smash Ladies would hold Lucina against her will to use her as their dress-up doll.

"I hope it isn't too showy, is it?" Lucina said shyly.

"Not at all, you are modest by nature, I can see why the other girls picked that dress for you. You actually look... kinda cute." Robin's comment made her blush again, realising what he just said.

"Back to the topic at hand, is there something you wanted to say to me?" The bluenette snapped out of her trance.

"I believe Meta Knight is mistaken, I have nothing important to say." Robin said hesitantly, his roommate frowned in disbelief and Lucina gave a slight expression of dissappointment. Robin immediately felt regret gouging at his heart in his decision.

"Oh, I deeply apologize if I wasted you time..." She said sadly as she slowly turned to leave the room. Guilt then joined regret in torturing Robin's emotions, he quickly got up to approach the princess without thinking.

"Lucina wait!" He said in a slight panic, he was now tightly grasping her arms. His grip softened when he realized he was making Lucina uncomfortable. At his point he realized there was no turning back, he stared into her blue eyes and spoke. Gods, those deep, beautiful eyes...

"I wasn't really being entirely honest with you, I have something I have been hiding from you. Something I should've told you long ago."

"You are a comrade and a dear friend of mine, we fought together and have supported each other in time of weakness. But something in my heart keeps making me wish we were more than that." Robin's face reddened along with Lucina.

"I am in a time of weakness right now because..." Robin said struggling with his emotions, his heart was beating at an alarming rate. Why did he have stop before these very words?

"Because what?" Lucina asked uneasily, Gods! Robin couldn't hold it in any longer, his emotions combusted inside of him like a lit propane tank and said...

"Because I have fallen in love you!" Robin bursted, all that was left inside of him was the aftermath of this emotional catastrophe. He could no longer face the bluenette and covered his face with his hands.

"What?" Lucina blushed even harder at his confession.

"I am sorry, I've fallen helplessly in love with you! All this time I've been avoiding you is because I couldn't have the courage to try to court you. I'm sorry..." Robin weakly repeated in his dismantled state.

Everyone in the room stood silent for what felt like hours, Lucina took in everything Robin has said to her and was putting together a proper response.

"Robin..." She said softly, the tactician slightly turned his head to look at her.

"I just want to say that... that-" Lucina too began to stutter, Robin could only brace himself for the coming words that were about to come out of her. Whether she accepts or rejects him, those words were going to haunt him for the rest of his life.

-TO BE CONCLUDED! 


	11. Ending A: Embrace

"-I have you in my heart as well..." Lucina said smiling.

Robin immediately felt great joy, those words were enough to pick him up from his sorry state. He faced Lucina so he could admire that smile, that rare, genuine smile.

"I too have been in a weakened state. When Princess Toadstool told me that someone wrote a poem confessing their feelings for me, I was in shock. I started experiencing feelings that I never felt before, it was just so sudden!" Lucina confessed.

"You read it?!" Robin asked in surprise.

"I was interrupted by Dame Samus's message. Later, Princess Toadstool read it while I was hiding, however my reaction gave away my position to her. While my fellow Smash Ladies held me captive, they refused to tell me who it was, saying that it was a surprise. All those hours I pondered who it was..." The bluenette answered.

"And it wasn't later until Sir Meta Knight rescued me from my peers and told me you wanted to speak to me." She continued. Robin was too concentrated on the princess to care about Meta Knight, his new objective was to embrace her.

"Did you really go out of your way to write a poem for me?" the princess asked.

"Yes, but it was an early draft really." Robin scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

"Oh Robin. I'm so glad you feel the same!" She said with tears of joy, Robin welcomed her with open arms and hugged. The two were locked in a deep embrace for a few minutes before they faced each other. Lucina stared into Robin's brown eyes while he stared back at hers.

"Lucina, I promise you... I promise you that I will make you the happiest woman of this entire world!" Robin spoke as he stroked her blue hair.

"And I promise you will be the happiest man of all these other worlds." Lucina sweetly replied.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have the sweetest smile?" Robin praised, the princess gave a flattered blush before the two succumbed to one last desire. Their lips slowly met each other and proceeded to gently kiss. Although they were unfamiliar with amorous osculation, their kiss became more confident as instinct took over.

The lovers were locked in their deep kiss and threw themselves into Luigi's bed. Lucina was now on top of Robin, their chests came into contact while they pulled their heads closer to each other. Their tongues began to infiltrate each others mouths, and then Robin bit down and sucked on the skin on the side her neck. What started as an innocent kiss intensified into an act of lust, although they never intended to, their bodies kept telling them to go deeper.

Deeper?! Oh dear...

"oohhh..." Lucina immediately covered her mouth with her hands when that slight moan escaped from her. Robin too came to a full stop when he realized they were close to doing something they would regret. Especially when they remembered Chrom.

The couple turned to look at Luigi, who stood there as if paralyzed. He had an expression that he would use when he saw a ghost and his left eye was twitching erratically.

"Luigi, how long have we been on this?" Robin asked his traumatized roommate.

"Fifteen minutes." Luigi said monotonously.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, I suppose we should give you your bed back now." The tactician said in embarrassment.

"It's okay, I'll sleep on your bed. Luigi will make sure you don't do that again!" Luigi half-joked.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know what came over me or what I was doing!" Lucina apologized with a sense of guilt.

"No, It's my fault for not controlling my urges." Robin felt as if he desecrated her innocence.

"I should leave, I still need to find Falchion and my armor after Princess Zelda and Lady Palutena confiscated them from me!" Lucina returned to her dutiful self and walked out the door, Robin didn't even bother to stop her.

"That was close, way too close..." Robin sighed after she has left. His last thoughts were of her before he eventually fell asleep.

Like Meta Knight predicted, his mind was now at peace.

* * *

Ever since, Robin and Lucina have loved each other deeply. Their strengthened bonds made them a formidable force in Team Battles, only to ultimately be defeated by Double-Diddy and their fearsome Hoo-hah attack. After the tournament has ended, the two returned to Ylisse to live out the rest of their lives. Upon bringing the news of their relationship, Robin received congratulations from his fellow Shepherds and a broken nose from Chrom. Eventually, the two became married and established a family of their own.

Falco barely survived Jigglypuff's attack. He eventually saw the error of his ways and apologized to Charizard, Robin, and everyone he has wronged. With his pride out of the way, Falco's Self-Destruct rate has drastically decreased.

Charizard's new pride were his friends that he cared for so deeply. His improved attitude made him much more likable among the other smashers. His ego might have been big, but his heart was even bigger.

-THE END

* * *

**ENDING A: For those who like RobinxLucina.**

**This confirms the end of A Burning Pride, please write a review and tell me which ending was your favorite.**

**(Ending C will be coming soon!)**


	12. Ending B: Acceptance

"-I am sorry..." Lucina said sadly.

Robin's heart sank at the harsh sting of those words. As if his own emotional breakdown didn't already land a number on him, the rejection definitely destroyed him.  
He was powerless to stop his tears from flowing out, all he could do was hide his face as he sobbed in despair.

"I am sorry Robin, but my heart belongs to someone else..." Lucina said regretfully, she didn't wish to bring pain to her friend and comrade, but there was truth that had to be let known.

"No Lucina, it is I who should be sorry. I am sorry for not being there for you first, I am sorry for not being good enough for you. I was fool thinking I had all the time in the world, thinking I had a chance to love you" Robin said moping.

"Could you blame me for loving you? Could you blame me for you being so strong, so regal, so... perfect?" He continued.

"Please Robin, it pains me to see you like this, saying those things to yourself." Lucina begged worryingly. She approached Robin and put her hand on his chin to make him look at her face.

"Look at me." Lucina simply commanded, Robin felt tortured at her request, having to stare at her deep, blue eyes. The eyes that he could no longer admire, but desired to look at for eternity.

"Will you still see me as a friend after this?" She asked. Robin was hardly affected by being what they call "friend zoned" as it was expected to come from her after he has read numerous books about love, including dealing with rejection. As much as he hated reading those sections, a tactician needs to be ready for anything in and outside the battlefield.

"Promise me that you will accept my decision, promise me that this won't change the way you look at me." Lucina spoke again. The heartbroken tactician knew he had no choice.

"For you... yes." Robin answered emotionless.

"But you must promise me something as well." The depressed tactician continued.

"Whoever is in your heart, promise me that he will make you happy, that he could do all the things that I couldn't." Robin moved closer to Lucina and hugged her. Lucina welcomed his hug so she could comfort him. Tears rained down on the bluenette's shoulders. Robin was thinking how much he wanted her, he wanted to feel her hugging him back for much longer.

"I promise..." The princess answered.

"Then I promise you as well..." Robin sniveled releasing her from his arms. He kept telling himself her hug was enough to satisfy him, clearly lying to himself.

"Thank you Robin, but I must go now." Lucina said as she slowly walked towards the door where she came from. As she grasped the door knob, she turned to look at Robin one last time. Robin stared back at her blue eyes to hide how haunting that last look was for him.

Lucina felt guilty for staring at him like that, she was afraid it would bring a misunderstanding. She had to think fast for a way to clarify things. The first thing that came to mind was her first conversation with Robin. She remembered how he advised her to take more care of herself and smile more often.

'A smile is contagious in a good way, you'd be surprised how much a trace of happiness can change things.' Robin's voice from her memory echoed in her head. She remembered how skeptical she was acting over how he first described it as contagious, she immediately imagined that her smile brought illness or curse of some sort. Until Robin clarified that he only meant that she had a nice, inspiring smile. Her grim upbringing in a dying world molded her into a serious individual who was naive to social expression.

"Goodnight Robin." She smiled, hoping to comfort him one last time. Robin stood there admiring her smile, a beautiful smile that few have seen. 'What a tease' He joked to himself, the humor of that thought somewhat cheered him up, which brought a vague smile in his face to return to her. Lucina didn't know what was going through his head, she was surprised that her smile actually calmed him down. She didn't exactly know how it worked, but she was happy it did.

Seconds later, she turned the knob, exited the room, and closed the door. Leaving the tactician alone with his roommate plumber who stood quietly all this time.

"So Luigi, is this how it feels like?" Robin asked his roommate in the same tone that spoke with him before Lucina came in.

"Y-You're not upset?!" Luigi asked surprised, Robin looked like he was handling the rejection way better than he thought, it was almost like it never happened.

"At first, yes. I was devastated, but then I realized something." the tactician calmly replied.

"What would that be?" the plumber asked.

"I realized that not everything in life is going to go the way you expect it to do. Like a river of time, life goes on and we need to accept the things that have been established and move on with the flow. The more you fight what already happened, the more you are left behind in the past." Robin said in elegant wisdom.

Luigi took in his words and pondered about his own rejection. He might never forget the day he realized he could never be with Daisy, but now embraced it the fact and felt he was ready to move on. He has so much ahead on his life, he has grown much stronger and made new friendships, he realized that he could live without her.

"Unless you are dealing with a world-destroying dragon god." the tactician cracked.

"What?" his roommate asked in confusion.

"Never mind, I just really need some rest right now." Robin brushed off everything that has happened today and prepared himself for sleep.

Like Meta Knight predicted, his mind was now at peace.

* * *

Ever since, Robin and Lucina remained good friends. They agreed to partnering up for the Team Battles tournament, only to ultimately be defeated by Link and Toon Link's impenetrable wall of projectiles. After the tournament has ended, Robin was informed by Shulk about a vision where he will love again. Whether she is from the tournament or back in Ylisse, Shulk did not know, but he assured Robin that he will eventually meet his true lover one day, bringing hope to the tactician. Lucina eventually went off to marry her truly beloved one and was congratulated by all, including Robin and his wife. The two Shepherds went their separate ways to live the rest of their lives happily.

Falco barely survived Jigglypuff's attack. He eventually saw the error of his ways and apologized to Charizard, Robin, and everyone he has wronged. With his pride out of the way, Falco's Self-Destruct rate has drastically decreased.

Charizard's new pride were his friends that he cared for so deeply. His improved attitude made him much more likable among the other smashers. His ego might have been big, but his heart was even bigger.

-THE END

* * *

**Ending B: For those who would rather save Robin and Lucina for their preferred pairings.**

**This confirms the end of A Burning Pride, please write a review and tell me which ending was your favorite.**

**(Ending C will be coming soon!)**


	13. Ending C: C Is For Crack

"-I am sorry..." Lucina said sadly.

Robin's heart sank at the harsh sting of those words. As if his own emotional breakdown didn't already land a number on him, the rejection definitely destroyed him.  
He was powerless to stop his tears from flowing out, all he could do was hide his face as he sobbed in despair.

"I am sorry Robin, but my heart belongs to someone else, some one bigger!" Lucina said completely out of character.

"Faster!" She added, Robin stared in confusion of her strange behavior, while also heartbroken for adding insult to injury by describing her loved one's superiority over him.

"And stronger too!" Lucina swooned thinking about him.

"What are you talking about!?" Robin asked covered in tears.

"I love the first member of the DK Crew!" The princess said dramatically.

*CRASH!* A hole in the wall was made when a large, tie-wearing gorilla broke into the room.

"DK!" Donkey Kong grunted after making his chaotic entrance.

"DONKEY KONG?!" Robin shouted in disbelief, how can that corpulent simian win over the heart of the princess of Ylisse?

"Donkey Kong is here!" Lucina exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes, she then jumped and landed in the gorilla's mighty arms. The princess then cuddled into his chest as he held her.

"But... he has no style, he has no grace, and he has a funny face!" Robin protested with jealousy getting the best of him.

"Wrong Kong little dong, grow some more before you try to compete with the alpha ape!" Donkey Kong retaliated.

"But you are an ape, and you are dangerously close to committing a crime against nature!" Robin wanted to approach the boastful gorilla but was held back by his roommate Luigi.

"Well how do you expect to win a princess with such a small pe- ... personality." Donkey Kong boasted with his big, toothy grin, smirking disrespectfully at the depressed tactician. Robin stares at ground, his emptiness growing by the second. His despair has taken the best of him and has controlled his subconscious.

"Well anyways, im gonna smuggle this lass to DK Country, if you know what I mean." Donkey Kong wiggled his eyebrows suggestively before cargo carrying Lucina in the form of his Forward Throw out the door. Before he left, he turned around one last time with a smirk on his face.

"Oh and by the way, I hired assassins to take care of you and the rest of the Smash Mansion, the alpha's gotta cover his tracks and 'competition'." The gorilla said with a smug, pointing finger before finally running out with the blue haired princess.

Suddenly, two little boys with striped shirts and blue shorts jumped from the hole in the wall and began incinerating the room with fiery projectiles.

"PK FIRE!"

* * *

The Earthbound Brothers, Ness and Lucas burned down the rest of the Smash Mansion. Every smasher along with the mansion were destroyed in the fire that consumed it. The enraged Master Hand punished the two young boys and were banished back to their respective worlds and times.

Donkey Kong ran off to DK Country with Lucina and eventually gave birth to a blue furred ape son named Counter Kong. The exalted ape grew to become the new King of The Jungle, leading an army in the 4th Kong/Kremling Banana War. Which only made Counter Kong's kingdom even stronger, eventually expanding his don-... territory to the mainlands. The age of Counter's Kong Quest has begun!

-THE END

* * *

**Ending C: The unexpected WTF ending.  
**

**This confirms the end of A Burning Pride, please write a review and tell me which ending was your favorite.**

**Ending C Co-written with Uber-Kong.**


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